


In the Dark

by sonictrowel



Series: Long Night in the Blue House [65]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Bit of Fluff, F/M, Family Feels, Gen, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-10
Updated: 2017-07-10
Packaged: 2018-11-30 12:00:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11463150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sonictrowel/pseuds/sonictrowel
Summary: It was a lovely morning: cool autumn breeze, sun on his face (making the shades actually seem appropriate,) aromatic coffee and a full English breakfast spread in front of him whilst he listened to the chatter of Nardole and the girls and the soft murmur of cafe noise and clinking cutlery.  Milly was staying for a few weeks, so they’d made weekend brunches a thing.  To think he’d ever hated Sundays.





	In the Dark

**Author's Note:**

> Been a while since I did two in one day... I'm impatient to write the next chapter, what can I say!

[Earth, 2017]

It was a lovely morning: cool autumn breeze, sun on his face (making the shades actually seem appropriate,) aromatic coffee and a full English breakfast spread in front of him whilst he listened to the chatter of Nardole and the girls and the soft murmur of cafe noise and clinking cutlery.  Milly was staying for a few weeks, so they’d made weekend brunches a thing.  To think he’d ever hated Sundays.

River would so love this.  He hadn’t spent enough peaceful time together with her in the sunlight.  He had taken that for granted when they had it— the way it lit up the gold in her hair and warmed her skin when he wrapped his arms around her.  That wicked, wonderful, irresistible smile on her lips when he pulled her close, feeling the radiant heat rolling off of her, his own personal star.  And then the perfect soft touch of those lips to his, and the taste of her kiss, brilliant and warm as sunshine—

_...ad.  Dad._

“Dad?”

He abruptly crashed back into the present.

“Sorry,” he said, clearing his throat.  “What?”

He could _feel_ Nardole rolling his eyes.

“Er, I was just sayin’ maybe we could take that trip to Wiltshire today?  Continue our nice, low-key Sunday with no... fish monsters, or space aliens… uh, present company excluded,” Bill said.

“Oh, sure,” the Doctor replied amiably.  “Wiltshire we can do.  Only, you said no aliens, but didn’t I ever tell you why Stonehenge was built?”

“Oh, here he goes,” Nardole said under his breath.

“To mark the location of the universe’s most perfectly designed, completely impenetrable prison, which, of course, was specially created for a certain scary, handsome genius—”

“Dad,” Milly cut in, “that was in an aborted timeline?  And Stonehenge is still there.”

“W— yes, well,” the Doctor sputtered, deflated.  “I… _suppose_ it does the whole celestial calendar, summer solstice bit, too.  If you find that sort of thing interesting.”

Nardole made an indifferent “meh” sound.

“Ah, _but,”_ the Doctor said, grinning again, “did I tell you about when your mum was Cleopatra?”

“Cleopatra, seriously?” Bill asked, amused.

“Is this story rated above or below 12?” Milly sighed wearily.  “I saw your daydreamy look on a minute ago.”

“Oh, is _that_ what that is?” Bill asked.  “Aww, Doctor.”

The Doctor’s cheeks burned.  “Y— well— shut up.”  He cleared his throat.  “So, Amy and me, we arrive on the scene, right, Roman legion encamped all about—”

“Ooh, was it the ninth?!” Bill gushed.  “I _love_ the Ninth Roman Legion.  I know _everything_ about ’em.”

“Who’s telling this story?” the Doctor grumbled.

Milly laughed.  It sounded so much like River’s.

___

It was late when they returned to the university, and the Doctor hastily bid Milly goodnight before making his way to the basement with his extra takeaway from dinner.  He didn’t think anyone but Nardole had trouble believing it was for his own midnight snack, and he had grumbled to himself but went on his way.  

The vault was equipped with a food machine, sure, but expecting anyone to live exclusively on that was just cruel.  And, if he could help it, the Doctor was never that.

He engaged the speaker and knocked the back of his hand twice against the vault door.  “’Ey, Missy,” he said.  “Got a bit late.  You still want dinner?”

“Can I meet her?”

The Doctor nearly had a double cardiac arrest.   _“Mils!”_ he hissed, whirling round on her, “The hell are you doing here?!”

“You really need to upgrade your security on the door.  Friends-only doesn’t do a lot of good when you’re hiding stuff from your friends?”

He huffed.  “You can’t be down here.  Go to bed.”

She snorted.  “I’m a bit old for you to be setting my curfew.”

“Well, not to me, you’re not; I haven’t done that bit yet, so I’m doing it now,” he said, setting down his takeaway bag and attempting to shoo her toward the stairs.

“Doctor?” came Missy’s sing-song voice through the speaker.  “Who’s that out there?  One of your little snacks?  Well, come right on in, I won’t _bite.”_

The Doctor scowled.  “You cannot be here,” he whispered urgently, pushing Milly away from the vault.  “She can’t know you exist.”

“Oh, can’t she?” Missy trilled.

 _Shit._  He aimed his screwdriver at the vault door and shut off the intercom.

“Wait.   _Do_ you know her?” he asked, staring at Milly’s data tag, his mind whirling with possible implications.

“Can’t say,” she replied flatly.  She was getting better at that.

He sighed, absently scrubbing his hand through his hair.  “I don’t know if I can trust her, Mils.  I probably can’t.  I’m just an old sentimental idiot who never learns.  I’ll take that risk, but I won’t let you take it.”

“I think that should be up to me, shouldn’t it?”

“No,” he snapped, squaring his jaw.  “I’m your dad and I’m meant to be protecting you and I’ve done a shit job of it, apparently, so here’s where I’m drawing the line.  If this happens, it’s not here; not tonight, not under my watch.”

In the charged pause that followed he truly lamented his blindness.

“Alright,” Milly said finally.  

He let out a breath, the tension leaving him so suddenly he felt wobbly on his feet.  

“I’ll see you in the morning.”  Milly’s tag drew nearer and she kissed him on the cheek before turning back to the stairs.

When the sound of her footsteps had disappeared entirely, the Doctor slumped back against the vault door.  His shaky hand fumbled for the intercom.

“Do you want your damn burger or what?” he grumbled.

“Oh, you’ve gone all Grumpy Grandad,” Missy replied with an audible pout.  “By all means come in, but I’ll not be blamed for your foul mood.   _I’ve_ been sat here being perfectly good.”

He sighed and disengaged the vault locks, waiting as the doors slowly rolled open.

“I had wondered why you were so chipper the past week!  Mind you, I guess it’s only Grumpy _Dad_ now— you’re not a grandfather again quite yet, are you?”

“Missy,” he groaned, picking up the takeaway bag again, “shut up.”

“Honestly, having kids with a human?” she went on, undeterred.  “They’re like rabbits!  Who knows how quick your wee little half-breeds’ll get to reproducing.”

The Doctor walked into the vault with his hand over his face to hide his grimace.  It was too fucking late; she knew.  Not that she hadn’t already worked it out decades ago, but now she had confirmation.

He’d better hope he was going to succeed in rehabilitating Missy.  Or it would never be safe to let her out.

He approached her data tag on his sonics’ psychic display and held out the takeaway bag to her.  When she reached for it, he managed to catch her hand in his.

His overly-attuned ears picked up the slightest sharp intake of breath.

“Please, Missy.  You can’t tell a soul.”

“Who would I tell?” she scoffed quietly.  “Humpty Dumpty?”

“Missy, I need to know that I can trust you with this.  Whatever else happens, whether you can learn to be good, just— please.  I need to keep them safe.”

“’Course,” she said, her voice a little breathy and shaky even as her tone suggested he was being an idiot.  “I’m your friend, aren’t I?  They’re not your pets.  They’re yours.”

“My human friends are not pets, either.”

“Right, yes, of course,” she said dismissively.  “But… you can trust me.  —On this one, at least,” she added, rapidly returning to a somewhat weak show of her customary sarcasm.  “A girl can’t be trustworthy full-time, that would just take all the fun out of life.”

The Doctor shook his head as he released her hand and shuffled back in the general direction of his chair.  “I think I believe you,” he said as he sat down, setting his elbows on his knees and hanging his head.  “I’m really an idiot, aren’t I?”

“’Course you are,” she answered instantly.  “But you know, broken clock’s right twice a day and all that.”

He smiled in spite of himself.  “You know, you really would love River.  She could show you a brand of ‘good’ I think you wouldn’t be dissatisfied with.”

“I do keep asking when you’re planning on letting me meet her,” Missy said, more gently than usual.

“The next time I do, if you stick with me.”

“Right,” she said softly.

Finally he heard the paper bag rustling as Missy opened up her meal.

A minute later she moaned loudly around a very large mouthful, “Ugh, I said jalapenos, not pickles!”  She swallowed.  “What’s your missus’ policy on eviscerating restaurant staff?  Bit flexible?”

___

Milly left a week and a half later.  It was shit.  It was always shit when she left.  But he needed her back on Darillium, and he’d no idea yet just how much.

Bill and Nardole gathered round his office to say their goodbyes.

“Til the next time, then?” Bill said warmly, the proximity of their data tags suggesting there was hugging.  “Hope it won’t be _too_ long.  I’ll keep an eye on your old man for ya til then.”

“Thanks, Bill,” Milly said, with just the slightest tremulation in her voice.  The Doctor didn’t quite like the sound of that.

“Take care of yourself, Milly,” Nardole said.

“And go easy on me, eh?” the Doctor added as Milly came closer.  “I don’t have the foggiest idea of what’s going on back then.  Not an easy place to be, stuck in the dark.”

Milly hugged him tight.  “I know,” she whispered, immediately taking the other meaning that had snuck in without his permission.  “It’ll be hard, but you’ll get through it.”

“Yeah?” he asked quietly.

She nodded against his shoulder.

A few minutes’ final pleasantries and she was gone in a whiff of smoke and ozone.

“Oh, now _that_ was brilliant,” Bill said.  “Doctor, how come you haven’t got one of those?”

The Doctor sighed and sank back into his chair.  “Rubbish way to time travel.  Haven’t you got an essay to work on, Bill?”

___

It wasn't long before he found himself outside of the vault again, his anxieties already creeping back in, the dark spaces filling with painful memories in the absence of a better object of focus.  When had he gotten so damn humany, in this body especially?  He didn’t used to let feelings have any hold over him, except for certain ones that were more useful on the offence, like belligerence.  And tetchiness.

He knew exactly when it happened, of course.

He was valiantly attempting to get his fucking mood swing under control when his sonics chimed.

 

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